Paradox’s CEO “would love” to make a baseball management game. Fredrik Wester, the head of the publishing studio which traditionally specialises in historical strategy (Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis), says he’s interested in expanding into the realm of sports management, with a particular focus on America’s favourite pastime.
The field of sports management games does tend to be relatively free of competition. Football, a sport Wester mentions ahead of expressing his favour for baseball, is dominated by the Football Manager series, but there are a few baseball games out there at the moment. Clearly though, they don’t really worry Wester too much.
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In an interview with PC Gamer, Wester says that “while I love football, I’m a big baseball fan myself.” After learning about the game’s popularity in countries like Japan, Wester said he was turned on to the idea, stating that “baseball would be a great management sim, because there’s so much statistics.”
Unfortunately, it looks like Paradox’s baseball game isn’t likely to happen any time soon. When asked what it would take for the studio to create the game that Wester envisions, he says that it Paradox studio manager Johan Andersson would have to get into the sport – “he’s into hockey, which is the wrong sport. Ice hockey is okay but it’s too small on a global scale.” The developers of Out of the Park Baseball must be breathing a sigh of relief.